Spend Some Time
by mtd4417
Summary: Sequel to Blessed. While Tony and Ziva's teams are investigating an attack on a Navy ship, they are faced with difficulties regarding Aiden's rebellious behavior. Will they be able to fix everything at home and still manage to solve the case on time?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello all :) Thanks for the alerts and reviews on "Blessed." I'm glad you all enjoyed it. This is the third installment of my five-part series! So, if you haven't read "For Better Or For Worse" and "Blessed" yet, I suggest you do that before reading this story! So, without further ado, here's chapter 1!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any original characters. I do own the characters that I created.

0-0-0

It was silent in the DiNozzo household one October morning. The clocks all read 5:48; approximately twelve minutes before Tony, Ziva, Aiden, and Aaliyah would wake up and start preparing for school and work. Twelve years had passed since they had moved into their house, and Aiden and Aaliyah were now fifteen years old and sophomores in high school. They had grown a lot in their short lifetimes, and Tony and Ziva were very proud of each of them, although they could not always attend every event that they wished they could.

Aiden had turned into quite a talented basketball player, and had even gotten to start on the varsity team his freshman year. He knew that he would again be a starter in this upcoming season. Basketball had been his passion since he was old enough to learn how to dribble the ball, and it was the only aspect of school that he really cared about. During basketball season, he admittedly would only go to class and maintain passing grades so he could play. He lived and breathed basketball, and he was hoping for a basketball scholarship and to eventually make it to the professionals. It was far-fetched, but it was his dream.

Aaliyah, on the other hand, cared very much for school. She was nearly a straight-A student and was relying on academic scholarships as opposed to the athletic scholarship that her brother was hoping for. She wasn't only focused on schoolwork, though. Aaliyah was a varsity cheerleader and got to cheer at her brother's basketball games. She was also very involved in school organizations, being the vice president of the sophomore class and a math tutor for middle schoolers. Aaliyah was hoping to be initiated into the National Honor Society as a junior, and she was working very hard to maintain her grades to achieve that goal.

Finally, the alarm clock in Tony and Ziva's bedroom began to ring, signaling that the time had reached 6:00a.m. Groggily, Ziva flailed her arm over the side of the bed to turn off the alarm. She rolled onto her back and sighed, not wanting to get up. Next to her, her husband propped himself into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes, trying to focus his vision.

"Good morning," Tony said.

"Morning," Ziva replied, stifling a yawn. She laid in silence for another moment before sighing and pushing her blankets off of herself to stand from the bed. "I will go make sure Aiden and Aaliyah are awake." She left their bedroom and walked down the hallway to where her kids' rooms were. Reaching Aiden's room, she knocked twice and opened the door.

"Aiden, it is time to get up," she called into the darkness. Hearing a grunt in response, Ziva opened the door the rest of the way so the hallway light flooded the room.

"Okay, Mom," Aiden growled, pulling his covers over his head. "I'm getting up." Ziva turned toward Aaliyah's room and knocked again before opening the door.

"It is time to get up," she repeated into her daughter's room before opening the door to let the hall light shine into Aaliyah's room as well.

After waking Aiden and Aaliyah, Ziva went back to her bedroom to see Tony coming out of the steamy master bathroom with a towel around his waist, obviously having just showered. He crossed the room to his closet to pull out a suit and tie to wear that day. While Tony was getting dressed, Ziva took her turn in the bathroom. After having Aiden and Aaliyah, both Tony and Ziva had gotten accustomed to getting themselves ready for work rapidly. When Tony was dressed and ready, he left the room and went downstairs to go to the kitchen.

"Good morning," he greeted his children who were seated at the breakfast nook, still in their pajamas, each eating a piece of jelly toast.

"Morning," Aaliyah responded quietly as her brother grunted into his toast. Tony poured Aiden and Aaliyah each a glass of orange juice and placed them in front of each of them.

"Thanks," Aiden said, instantly taking a large gulp from the glass.

"So do you guys have anything going on at school today?" Tony asked, walking back to the refrigerator to find something for breakfast for himself.

"I have a student council meeting right after school at 3. Then I'm tutoring from 3:30-4:30, and I have cheer practice from 5-8," Aaliyah replied. Tony nodded; this was a typical day for Aaliyah.

"Not really," Aiden said. "Basketball conditioning doesn't start till next week. So I'll probably just chill with my friends for a while."

"As long as you're home in enough time to do your homework. Your mom would kill you if you had a repeat of last year," Tony said, making reference to the conference he and Ziva had with Aiden's history teacher a few months prior because Aiden had skipped six assignments in a row.

"Okay, that was in April. I was ready for summer break," Aiden tried to justify. "Besides, I hated that class. That man taught history in the most boring way possible."

"But if you do all of your work, you know you will only have to take each class once," Ziva said, entering the kitchen fully clothed and ready for work. Aiden rolled his eyes, and Ziva smiled and greeted her children with a cheerful 'good morning.'

"All right, well we have to get going to work," Tony said, looking at his watch. He grabbed his keys and he and Ziva walked toward the kitchen doorway. "Have a good day at school." He and Ziva told Aiden and Aaliyah goodbye and left the house.

"I'm going to go get dressed," Aaliyah said after her parents had left. As she left the room, Aiden pulled out his phone to text his friend.

Twenty minutes later, Aaliyah came back downstairs, fully clothed and with her hair curled and makeup finished. She checked in the living room, expecting to see her brother, but did not. When she walked back to the kitchen, she found Aiden still sitting at the breakfast nook in the sweats and t-shirt he had slept in.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Aiden looked up from his phone.

"Texting Ethan," Aiden replied.

"Why aren't you ready for school?" Aaliyah asked. "You're going to miss the bus."

"That's the plan," Aiden replied, standing from the nook.

"You're skipping again?" Aaliyah asked. "That's the third time this month."

"Yeah, and?" Aiden asked. "It's not basketball season yet. I'll have more fun hanging with my friends than I would spending seven hours in class."

"Aren't you worried Mom and Dad are going to find out?" Aaliyah asked, to which Aiden laughed and placed his hands on his hips.

"Mom and Dad aren't home enough to notice," he replied. "And no, I'm not scared of them. What are they gonna do, ground me? They're never here anyway, so it's not like they'd know if I'm here or not."

"They post your attendance record on your grade card which they mail home," Aaliyah stated. "_Addressed_ to Mom and Dad."

"Oh well," Aiden said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm gonna go chill at Ethan's. You have fun at school, LeeLee." He walked past his sister and started up the stairs.

"Stop calling me LeeLee!" Aaliyah called after him. She sighed and shook her head before grabbing her bookbag and leaving the house to head to the bus stop.

Meanwhile, Tony and Ziva had just arrived at NCIS headquarters. Ziva turned the corner into her team's squad room, which was right next to that of Tony's team. Ziva's new squad room was the one which EJ Barrett's team had previously occupied years prior. Twelve years ago, after Gibbs had retired and passed the team down to Tony, Ziva had remained on the team for another two years. She, Tony, McGee, and a forth agent by the name of Victor Larson had worked well as a team, but when Ziva was offered a position to lead her own team, there was no question to her and Tony that she should take it. So, Tony and Ziva now each led their own respective teams.

Ziva set down her belongings and sipped the coffee that she and Tony had stopped to purchase on the way to work. The other three agents on her team had bid her good morning, and she returned the gesture. She was, in fact, happy with her new team. Agents Mark Tuttle, John White, and Melissa Buchanan were who composed her team now, and each of their individual personalities made for a diverse group, and they had a great dynamic among the team.

Next to her squad room was Tony's. He had remained in the same location and at the same desk that he had always used. He, too, was the only member of their original team left. McGee had accepted a higher paying job offer six months after Ziva had gotten her own team, so Tony's team needed rebuilt as well. Victor Larson stayed and had become Tony's senior field agent. The agents who had taken Ziva and McGee's spots were Trevor Daniels and Steph Sullivan.

After greeting his team and sitting at his desk, Tony pulled a small stack of files out of one of his desk drawers and began working on paperwork. Around him, Victor, Trevor, and Steph were each working quietly at their respective desks as well. While Tony knew that he had a well-run team, he sometimes missed the old interactions between his old team that Gibbs had been in charge of. Even after twelve years, Tony still found himself asking what Gibbs would do in certain situations and taking risks just because his gut told him to. It was something that Tony was sure would never change. Roughly an hour and a half after arriving at work, Tony's desk phone began to ring.

"DiNozzo," he answered. The caller was Vance, who was still director of NCIS.

"I need you and Ziva to come to my office," Vance said bluntly.

"Yes, sir," Tony said before hanging up. As he stood from his desk, his team each looked up at him, awaiting orders. "Stay here."

"Are we going to be going somewhere?" Victor asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Tony replied. He walked over to Ziva's desk, and Ziva looked up at him, surprised at his early visit.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Vance wants you and me in his office," Tony explained.

"Did he say why?" Ziva asked.

"No," Tony replied, shaking his head. Ziva nodded and stood from her desk to accompany her husband to the director's office. They entered to see Vance sitting at his desk waiting for them.

"Thank you for getting up here so quickly," Vance said as Ziva closed the door.

"What is this about?" Ziva asked.

"Something happened," Vance began. "There was a bomb placed on a ship at the Navy base."

"Did it go off?" Tony asked when the director paused. Vance nodded.

"It went off when the ship was still in port," he replied. "Many men were killed and injured. Obviously, this brings the question of traitors as well as of terrorism."

"Well surely there would be surveillance of some sort," Tony said. Vance nodded.

"It just happened this morning. The press are already all over it, as is to be expected," Vance said. "As two of NCIS's best agents, I want your teams to work together on this case. I think it will maximize the efficiency and solve it as soon as possible."

"No problem," Tony nodded. He and Ziva were dismissed from Vance's office, and they left to inform their teams of their new assignment.

"All right gang, grab your gear," Tony instructed when he reached his desk. He saw as Ziva received a phone call on her cell phone before she was able to instruct her team the same thing. Tony paused and watched her facial expression turn to anger before she ended the call.

"Grab your gear. I will give you instructions, but I will have to meet up with you in a little bit," Ziva said to her team before walking back over to Tony.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just got a call from the high school," Ziva replied. "They said that Aiden has not shown up for any of his classes today. Apparently, this is the third time he has skipped this month and the sixth time this year."

"Really," Tony sighed, disappointed. "So where do you think he is?"

"Well, my guess would be Ethan's house because that is where he and his friends hang out all the time," Ziva replied.

"Okay," Tony said. He then turned back to his team. "There was an attack on a ship at the Navy base. We aren't sure if it's terrorism or what. Go with Ziva's team, and we'll meet you there as soon as we can. We have a family emergency we have to take care of first."

"You got it," Victor said instantly as Trevor and Steph shared concerned looks with each other.

"Keep me updated until I can get there," Tony said. Victor nodded, and Tony and Ziva's teams left for the elevator together.

"Let's go find Aiden," Ziva said angrily.

"We just talked to him this morning about his behavior in school," Tony said as they walked toward the elevator. "I don't know what his problem is."

"Neither do I, but I would certainly like to find out," Ziva said as the elevator door opened. The stepped inside and left to locate their son. Hopefully, they would be able to get Aiden's behavior under control quickly so they could return to this case that they were sure would serve them with its fair share of obstacles.

0-0-0

**A/N:** Well there's chapter 1! I hope you all like it and think it's off to a good start! Please remember to review and tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! I apologize for the wait for the second chapter, but this past week was my spring break from college, so I was rather busy. But, I did manage to plan out the rest of this story! And I think you'll all enjoy it! So, without further ado, here's chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any original characters. I own those whom I have made up.

0-0-0

"Aiden Landon DiNozzo, get in there and sit down!" Ziva hollered sternly at her son as she, Aiden, and Tony entered the house. Tony and Ziva had been correct in guessing that he was at Ethan's house. When they had arrived at Ethan's house, they saw Ethan and Aiden sitting on the front porch, not even trying to hide the fact they were missing school. The ride home had been completely silent; Tony and Ziva fuming in the front seat, and Aiden sitting quietly in the back, awaiting his upcoming punishment. Now that they were home, Aiden did as his mother demanded and walked into the living room, taking a seat on the couch.

"What were you thinking?" Tony exclaimed, standing in front of his seated son with his hands on his hips. Aiden shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and didn't look up at his parents.

"You don't know?" Tony continued. "Or you weren't thinking?" Again, Aiden shrugged his shoulders.

"Didn't feel like school today, I guess," he said. Tony felt his blood boil even hotter, and Ziva, who had been pacing the floor behind her husband, stopped in her tracks and turned rapidly to face her son.

"You did not feel like school today?" she repeated angrily, to which Aiden shrugged again. "Do you not think there have been days when we have not felt like going to work? But we go anyway because if we skip, there will be no house, no food, no brand name clothing or whatever else we buy for you!"

"Chill out, Mom," Aiden sighed, leaning back against the couch. "You act like it's such a chore to make sure I have what I need."

"Are you serious?" Tony yelled as Ziva gaped at the disrespect her son was showing. "What the hell is that you're wearing? A Hollister hoodie? Seventy-five damn dollars. You realize we could get seven hoodies at Wal-Mart for that price?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Aiden asked calmly, looking around the room.

"You are ungrateful!" Ziva exclaimed. "You have everything you need and then some. You are fifteen years old and you have a cell phone, a laptop, your own room with a high definition television, more clothes than you know what to do with! But you do not appreciate any of it. We have not made you get a job. All that you have to do is go to school and do your work."

"And you can't even do that for us!" Tony finished angrily. "What the hell's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Aiden shrugged.

"Well obviously something!" Tony hollered. "You've skipped school three times this month, six times this year, and it's only October!"

"People skip all the time," Aiden shrugged.

"Well not my kids!" Tony continued. "I'll be damned if any child of mine is going to fail the tenth grade for not showing up to school. If you want to pull this shit and miss the bus, your mom and I will personally drive you to school. And don't think for a second that it will embarrass me or your mom to walk you to your first class and check you in and tell the teacher it's because you're incapable of getting there yourself."

"You wouldn't do that," Aiden scoffed.

"Don't tempt me," Tony warned. "If you're not responsible enough to get yourself to school, we'll get you there one way or another."

"Whatever, Dad," Aiden sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Do not roll your eyes at your father!" Ziva demanded. "Do you have any idea what would have happened to either of us if we ever showed our parents this type of disrespect?" Aiden chuckled to himself and smirked.

"You're grounded," Tony said firmly. "You will go to school, and you will come straight home. No friends, no phone, no computer. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Aiden answered.

"Good. We have to go back to work," Tony said.

"Of course you do," Aiden sighed.

"We left a very important case to come deal with this nonsense," Tony said. "Now give me your cell phone."

"Seriously?" Aiden asked.

"I just explained to you the rules," Tony replied. He held his hand out and waited for Aiden to pull his phone out and hand it over. "Good. Now, go put your laptop in mine and your mom's room. When we get home tonight, it had better be in there, and you had better be home."

"Okay," Aiden sighed before standing up. "Are we finished here?"

"Yes," Tony said, much calmer than he was at the beginning of the conversation. Aiden walked past his parents to head out of the living room. Ziva stepped closer to Tony, resting her hand on his shoulder. He sighed before calling his son. "Aiden!" Aiden stopped in the living room doorway and turned around to face his parents.

"Yes?" he asked.

"We just don't like seeing you mess up, son. We really do love you, you know that," Tony said. Aiden nodded.

"Yeah, I know," he said. Aiden turned and left the room, and Tony and Ziva left the house to join their teams at the crime scene.

After Tony and Ziva left, Aiden went into the room next to the living room that had used to be his and Aaliyah's play room. As the twins had gotten older, Tony and Ziva had changed the room from a play room into a normal family room. Aiden crossed the floor to the wrap-around sectional and laid down to relax and watch tv. Nearly twenty minutes had passed when Aiden heard the front door open.

"Lee?" Aiden called out. A few seconds later, Aaliyah turned the corner into the family room.

"You're home?" she observed. "I wasn't expecting you to come home until right before Mom and Dad are supposed to get home."

"That was the plan,"Aiden sighed. "Until the damn school called them."

"Oh boy," Aaliyah sighed, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. "What happened?" Aiden shrugged his shoulders.

"They called Mom and Dad and told them that I didn't show up today," Aiden replied. "Somehow they guessed I was at Ethan's, so they came to get me and brought me home."

"Are you in trouble?" Aaliyah asked.

"Oh yeah," Aiden chuckled. "You know how Dad gets. He screamed at me for quite a while."

"What did he say?" Aaliyah asked. Aiden shrugged again.

"Probably just the usual," he replied. "I was trying to tune him out, so it's kind of a blur. Good thing I was still buzzing, or I woulda been bored to death."

"Buzzing?" Aaliyah repeated. "Are you high?"

"Not so much anymore," Aiden replied. Aaliyah offered her brother a disapproving look.

"I really wish you wouldn't smoke weed," she said. "Or skip school so much."

"Don't knock it til you try it," Aiden said in response to his sister's disapproval of marijuana. "You're only young once, Lee. Why spend all your life in school?"

"So that once you're actually out of school, your life means something," Aaliyah replied. "I'm not trying to lecture you, but if you work hard in school, it pays off so much more later in life."

"Mom and Dad got to you, I see," Aiden smiled. "So I guess you don't wanna hear my plans for Halloween."

"What would those be?" Aaliyah asked.

"It involves, apparently, two of your least favorite things," Aiden replied. "Pot and skipping."

"You're skipping school to get high?" Aaliyah asked. "How is that any different from today?"

"Have you ever gone pumpkin smashing while stoned?" Aiden asked.

"No," Aaliyah replied.

"That's how it's different from today," Aiden replied. "We're skipping school because, well, it's Halloween. No one wants to go to school on Halloween. We'll chill all day, smoke some weed, watch some horror movies, whatever. Then that night, we're going pumpkin smashing."

"Okay," Aaliyah said, shaking her head. "Have fun with that."

"I will," Aiden replied.

"I'm going to go upstairs," Aaliyah said as she stood from the couch and left the room.

Meanwhile, Tony and Ziva had arrived at the Navy base where the ship had exploded. They exited the car and hurried over to meet their teams who had been hard at work since arriving. Victor was the first one to reach Tony and Ziva when they arrived on-scene.

"Whatcha got?" Tony asked.

"The bomb went off at around 8:30 this morning," Victor said. "Sixteen people are confirmed dead. Many injured people are receiving medical attention."

"Any leads or new information?" Tony asked.

"We've been questioning people all day," Victor replied. "No one seems to know anything."

"Someone's gotta know something," Tony said. "Whoever planted the bomb had access to that ship."

"We'll keep looking," Victor said. He turned and walked away to continue searching for information.

"You're also from NCIS?" asked a man in a Navy uniform who approached Tony and Ziva when Victor had left.

"That's right," Tony replied. "Special Agents Tony and Ziva DiNozzo."

"Captain Sam Beck," the man returned. "Are these your men and women who have been here all day?"

"Yes they are, Captain," Tony replied.

"I hope you find what you're looking for," Beck said. "What happened this morning was a tragedy. Many young lives were taken and many more ruined."

"We'll figure out who did this and why, Captain," Tony promised.

"I sure hope so," Beck said.

"Captain, something that would really help us is if we could have access to any surveillance tapes on base," Ziva said.

"They've already been collected for you," Beck replied. "I surely hope you find something useful on one of them."

"I am sure that we will," Ziva smiled.

"Well, I'll let you get back to doing your job," Beck said. "If you need anything, NCIS has my complete cooperation during this investigation."

"Thank you, Captain," Tony said as Beck walked away from them.

"Shall we see what we can find?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah," Tony replied, scanning the area with his eyes. His and Ziva's six agents were each talking to their own witness. There were several other Navy personnel scattered around, and Tony wasn't sure where to start. "I'll start on the left, you start on the right. We'll meet in the middle."

"On it, Boss," Ziva said jokingly with a flirtatious smile. Tony smiled back and winked at her before turning to walk toward the first man he was going to talk to.

For a long while, Tony and Ziva joined their agents in questioning the people on the base. None of them were gaining useful information. Everyone they talked to seemed to have generally the same story. The people being questioned said they didn't know what happened, they had no idea who could have planted the bomb, they hadn't noticed anyone acting strangely recently. It seemed as though either no one knew anything, or no one wanted to share what they knew. Finally, Tony and Ziva met up again near the middle of the base.

"Find anything out?" Tony asked his wife. 

"Nobody has given me anything useful," Ziva replied.

"Same," Tony sighed. He quickly glanced around again to see if they had perhaps missed anyone. His eyes fell upon a young brunette woman. She kept glancing over and making brief eye contact with Tony before looking away. "Over there," Tony whispered to Ziva, still looking in the woman's direction. He and Ziva made their way over to where the woman was standing.

"You are from NCIS," the woman said as more of a statement than a question.

"Yes," Tony replied. "Agents Tony and Ziva DiNozzo."

"You're married?" the woman asked. Tony nodded. "I'm surprised NCIS still allows you to work together."

"We each manage our own team of agents," Tony explained. "Our teams were instructed to work together on this due to the level of the crime. That's why there are currently eight agents here."

"Makes sense," the woman said, nodding. "I'm Petty Officer Belle Rogers."

"Well, Petty Officer Rogers, can you tell us anything about what happened this morning?" Tony asked.

"I don't know who planted the bomb, and I don't know why they did it," Belle said. "But I know one thing. It may be a complete coincidence and have nothing to do with who was really involved, but it seems strange to me."

"What would that be?" Ziva asked. Rogers took a deep breath before replying.

"My friend Laurie was one of the people killed in the explosion," she began. "Laurie had been putting up with a certain guy hitting on her for quite some time. She finally turned him down earlier this week, and now this morning there was a bomb. Laurie died, but the guy that had been giving her a hard time was not even harmed."

"What's his name?" Tony asked.

"Jameson Wycuff," Rogers replied. "He's standing right over there." She pointed toward a man who had his back turned toward them, talking with another naval officer.

"Is that all the information you have for us?" Ziva asked.

"That's all, ma'am," Rogers replied. "And like I said, it may be nothing."

"Well, we'll find out," Tony said. "Thank you for your time, Petty Officer."

"You're welcome," Rogers smiled. Tony and Ziva turned toward Jameson Wycuff who was still looking in the opposite direction of them.

"Did you talk to him?" Tony asked.

"No," Ziva replied. "Did you?"

"No," Tony replied.

"Well let's go see if there is a connection," Ziva said. She and Tony started walking toward Wycuff, who still had his back toward them. As they got closer, the person Wycuff was talking to kept looking over Wycuff's shoulder at Tony and Ziva who were approaching. Wycuff quickly noticed this and turned around to see Tony and Ziva a mere few steps away from him.

"Jameson Wycuff?" Tony asked. Wycuff's eyes moved quickly from the approaching agents to where Belle Rogers was standing, and a panicked look crossed his face. In an instant, he took off running away from Tony and Ziva.

"Damn it," Tony said under his breath and he and Ziva started running after Wycuff.

"NCIS! Stop!" Ziva yelled after the suspect. Wycuff continued running, glancing over his shoulder at the agents chasing him. Just then, Wycuff lost his footing and tripped, falling hard onto the ground. He scrambled around, trying to get back onto his feet, but Tony and Ziva had reached him. Tony, on Wycuff's back, was already putting handcuffs on Wycuff's wrists.

"It's not a very smart idea," Tony said lowly in Wycuff's ear. "Running from federal agents on a Navy base."

"Look, I didn't have anything to do with that bomb," Wycuff insisted.

"Well, we have a few questions we're going to need you to answer," Tony said. "So you'll have to come with us." He stood from the ground, pulling Wycuff up with him.

"I believe we are done here," Ziva said, smiling at Tony.

"For now," he agreed. As Tony led Wycuff to the car, the rest of the agents gathered with Ziva.

"Make sure those surveillance tapes get to Abby," Ziva instructed.

"Will do," said Agent John White, one of Ziva's team members. Ziva nodded her approval and joined her husband at the car to go back to NCIS headquarters.

Back at home, Aaliyah was sitting on her bed, reading through her notes as she studied for an upcoming test. She couldn't ignore the frustration she was feeling toward her brother. She knew that Aiden was actually a very intelligent person if he tried, and it bothered her that he was messing up his life so badly at only fifteen years old. Not knowing what else to do, Aaliyah put her notes down and called the one person who would listen and have advice: their godmother, Abby.

"Hello?" Abby answered.

"Abby?" Aaliyah asked.

"Hi Aaliyah!" Abby exclaimed. "How are you? How was school today?"

"School was fine, and I'm doing well," Aaliyah replied. There was a short silence in the conversation.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked.

"How did you know?" Aaliyah asked.

"Hmm, well I've only known you your entire life. I know when something's bothering my goddaughter," Abby said. "So what is it?"

"It's Aiden," Aaliyah sighed.

"Sibling rivalry?" Abby asked. "Need me to come slap some sense into him?"

"It's not that. It's..." Aaliyah stopped.

"It's what?" Abby asked, genuinely concerned.

"Aiden has skipped school six times this year," Aaliyah said. "Today the school called our parents, and they were furious."

"Well yeah!" Abby exclaimed. "I don't blame them."

"I don't either," Aaliyah agreed. "Apparently Dad yelled at him for a while and now Aiden's grounded."

"Well, I'm sure your parents did what they felt was best," Abby said.

"I know that," Aaliyah replied. "I'm just worried about Aiden."

"I understand," Abby said. "I'm sure this is causing his grades to suffer, and skipping too much school can cause you to fail the grade."

"Well it's not just that, either," Aaliyah continued. "His whole attitude about everything is just getting to me."

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Abby asked.

"When he skips, he goes to his friend's house to smoke weed," Aaliyah began. "And-"

"What?" Abby exclaimed. "He's on drugs?"

"Only pot," Aaliyah replied.

"Yeah, only pot, that you know of!" Abby said.

"No, I know my brother," Aaliyah insisted. "He wouldn't try anything harder than that."

"He's only fifteen years old! He shouldn't even be doing _that_! Let alone anything harder," Abby continued.

"I know," Aaliyah agreed.

"Do your parents know?" Abby asked.

"I don't think so," Aaliyah replied. "And I don't know how to tell them."

"Are you sure you want to?" Abby asked.

"Well, I know Aiden won't," Aaliyah replied. "And I would rather them be told about it rather than find out themselves."

"Do you want me to talk to them?" Abby asked. Aaliyah thought for a moment.

"No," she replied. "I really don't."

"Okay," Abby replied.

"I mean, they're already really angry with him about school," Aaliyah began thinking out loud. "I don't want to get him in even more trouble."

"Aaliyah, your brother is choosing to make his own decisions," Abby said. "Any trouble he gets in, he's getting himself in. You wouldn't be getting him in trouble; he'd be getting himself in trouble."

"I know," Aaliyah sighed. "It's just hard. He's more than my brother; he's my twin. I'm just really worried about the decisions he's making. And on top of it, he has no respect for Mom and Dad. He doesn't take anything they say or do seriously."

"Why?" Abby asked.

"I think he holds it against them that they have to work a lot," Aaliyah replied.

"How so?" Abby asked.

"He makes comments about how Mom and Dad are never here, so they won't find stuff out or they won't care about certain things," Aaliyah replied. "I don't know. I just feel like he's doing some of this _because_ Mom and Dad aren't around a lot."

"It's not that they _want_ to be gone a lot, honey," Abby said. "Believe me, you and Aiden are the best things in your parents lives, and if they could be there with you all day, they definitely would be. They love you two so much."

"I know that," Aaliyah sighed. "I just don't know what to do about Aiden."

"Well," Abby began. She thought for a moment. "Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"It wouldn't do any good," Aaliyah replied.

"You could be surprised," Abby said. "Why don't you try it. Talk to Aiden, and if things don't start to change, I would really suggest considering telling your parents everything you just told me."

"I just...I don't want to mess things up between me and my brother," Aaliyah said.

"I know," Abby replied. "But you want what's best for him. And I know you don't want to see him get seriously hurt or harm his future."

"You're right," Aaliyah sighed. "I think I'll try to talk to him."

"Good," Abby said with a smile.

"Thanks for listening, Abby," Aaliyah said.

"Any time," Abby replied.

"If you have some time, the school's homecoming is coming up, and I was hoping to talk to someone about it," Aaliyah said.

"Ooh, do you have a date?" Abby asked.

"Well, this guy actually as-"

"Hey, sorry, Aaliyah," Abby interrupted. "I would absolutely _love_ to hear all about it, but White just got here with some tapes for me to go through for your parents' case."

"Okay," Aaliyah said, disappointed.

"I'm sorry!" Abby apologized. "We'll definitely talk later!"

"Definitely," Aaliyah agreed, trying not to sound upset.

"Bye!" Abby exclaimed, hanging up the phone to get back to work. Aaliyah sighed and put down her cell phone. At least Abby had helped her with her problem about Aiden. Aaliyah just wished she wasn't in the situation she was placed in and that her parents could see what was really going on with their son.

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**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed chapter 2! Please remember to review and let me know what you think so far!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! I'm glad you're all liking it so far. Enjoy chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any original characters.

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A couple of hours had passed since Jameson Wycuff had been brought in to NCIS headquarters. Tony had left the suspect in an interrogation room to stew while the teams worked on the case. Now, Tony was standing in observation watching Wycuff, studying his actions. Wycuff looked irritated and anxious. Tony felt as though Wycuff was going to be a stubborn suspect to question. After all, he had run when approached by federal agents.

"When are you going to go in there?" Ziva asked. She was also standing in observation with her husband. Tony sighed and checked his watch.

"Right after Abby calls me," he replied.

"You are expecting a call from Abby?" Ziva asked.

"She's had those tapes for a good three hours," Tony replied. "She's had to have found something helpful by now."

"These things take time-" Ziva was cut off by the sound of Tony's cell phone ringing. He checked it, and Ziva could tell by the smile on his face that it was Abby.

"Whatcha got, Abbs?" he answered.

"Tony!" Abby exclaimed on the other end of the call. "I've been looking through the surveillance tape Agent White brought me."

"Find anything?" Tony asked.

"Yes and no," Abby replied. "I have a man suspiciously entering the ship after hours. I'm talking really late."

"Is it Wycuff?" Tony asked hopefully.

"That's the thing," Abby said, disappointment in her tone. "He has a hat on, so I can't really see his face. But, the build and what I can see of him looks a lot like Wycuff."

"It's probable cause and would buy us time," Tony thought out loud. "It's enough to hold him."

"Great!" Abby exclaimed.

"Thanks, Abbs," Tony said before hanging up his phone.

"Well?" Ziva asked when Tony had ended the call.

"Show time," he said and walked past her with a giant smile on his face. A moment later, Tony entered the interrogation room looking very determined.

"I can explain why I ran," Wycuff said upon Tony's entrance.

"You don't need to," Tony said, sitting in a chair across from the suspect.

"Look, sir, I did not blow up that ship," Wycuff insisted.

"Oh, well that settles it," Tony said very sarcastically. "You say you didn't do it, so that's all. We're done here, and you're free to go." Wycuff looked down and shook his head.

"Look, I-"

"No, _you_ look," Tony said sternly in a serious tone. "Someone did blow up that ship, and no one is going anywhere until I know who did it and why."

"You think I had something to do with it," Wycuff stated.

"You haven't displayed very innocent behavior," Tony pointed out.

"Okay," Wycuff relented. "Ask me anything." Tony nodded and opened the folder in which he had placed his notes regarding the case.

"Where were you last night?" he asked.

"I went to bed early last night," Wycuff replied. "I was in a deep sleep until I received a phone call telling me about the explosion."

"You realize that an alibi is your only hope in clearing your name?" Tony asked. "And the one you decide to go with is 'I was sleeping'?"

"It's the truth," Wycuff insisted. "And you don't have anything saying otherwise." Tony chuckled.

"See, that's where you're wrong," he said. "We've analyzed the surveillance tapes taken from the base, and we saw you entering the ship very late last night."

"That's impossible," Wycuff said. "It wasn't me! What motive would I have?"

"Let's think about it for a moment," Tony said. "I've been informed that one of the people who was killed in the explosion was a woman, Laurie, who you were, let's say, less than happy with."

"What are you talking about?" Wycuff asked.

"You had been trying to put the moves on Laurie for quite some time, being rejected every time," Tony said. "I know rejection sucks, but don't you think killing her is going a bit too far?"

"I didn't kill her!" Wycuff exclaimed. "I didn't kill anyone, sir."

"See, I think you did," Tony replied. "You knew Laurie would be caught in the explosion, and you figured it would be great payback for her turning you down. Killing because of rejection; we see it all the time."

"No, you don't understand!" Wycuff said. "Laurie and I ended mutually."

"That's not what I understand," Tony replied.

"Well, you were told wrong," Wycuff said. "There was a mutual attraction between Laurie and I. Nothing serious ever became of it, and we talked it out and decided it made sense to end it before it even began. I would never to anything to hurt her though." Tony nodded, writing down Wycuff's points from the conversation but still not believing him.

"We're going to need to keep you anyway," Tony finally said.

"What?" Wycuff blurted out.

"It still isn't looking good for you," Tony said, shaking his head. He stood from the table and watched the outraged expression on Wycuff's face.

"You're making a mistake!" Wycuff exclaimed as Tony turned the doorknob.

"I'll be in touch soon," Tony said before leaving the interrogation room and meeting Ziva in the hallway.

"That did not accomplish much," she said.

"I know," Tony sighed. He checked his watch and realized how long after hours they had stayed. "Let's send the teams home and pick it back up tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan," Ziva agreed. They turned to go to the squadroom and dismiss their teams before returning home to spend the evening as a family.

The next day, Aiden had gone to school and not skipped any classes. After school, Aaliyah had cheer practice, so Aiden was on his own. Knowing his parents wouldn't be home from work for several hours yet, he joined his gang of friends at Ethan's house. His usual gang consisted of himself and Ethan as well as their friends Joey and Kevin, Kevin's girlfriend Hannah, Aiden's girlfriend Hayley, and Hayley's best friend Rachel. As usual, the seven of them were hanging out in Ethan's garage while Ethan's parents were at work. Their hang-out spot was furnished with a sofa, an arm chair, and a few lawn chairs with a coffee table in the middle of the seating. Ethan was sitting in the arm chair rolling a joint while the others were complaining about their midterms which were being sent home that day.

"Man, the last time my parents saw my grades, they tried grounding me," Kevin said with a smirk on his face. "They tried taking away my cell phone and realized the next day that if I didn't have my phone, they'd have no way to get ahold of me. My parents never remember when I have practice, so they always thought I was screwing around somewhere or some shit."

"You probably were," Joey laughed.

"Yeah," Kevin shrugged. "But I told them it would be easier for them to keep track of me if I had my phone...I got it back that day." He finished his story with a grin on his face.

"I personally don't care about this whole midterm situation," Joey said. "I'm not failing anything, so my dad couldn't care less."

"Here," Ethan offered Joey a joint after taking a drag of his own.

"Thanks, man," Joey said, accepting it and taking his own long drag. A moment later after releasing his breath, Joey passed the joint on to Kevin. "Damn, there's nothing like the first drag after a long day at school."

"This is your first smoke of the day?" Ethan asked, slightly shocked.

"I didn't say that," Joey said. "I said it's my first smoke after leaving school." Ethan chuckled at his friend's response.

"Man, am I gonna need this," Aiden said in reference to the joint that he just received from Kevin and Hannah. "I've gotta be stoned to sit through my parents' lecture." He had a smirk on his face before raising the drug to his own mouth.

"They gonna try to ground you or something?" Ethan smirked.

"I'm grounded now," Aiden laughed. "My dad flipped out after taking me home when we skipped school. What else can they really do?"

"As long as they don't make you miss homecoming," Hayley said. Aiden turned to face his girlfriend who was sitting beside him on the couch.

"Don't worry about that," he said.

"I had to miss homecoming last year, so I want to go this year," Hayley said with a serious look on her face. Aiden chuckled to himself. Why did girls take school dances so seriously? He put his arm around Hayley's shoulders.

"Don't worry," he said. "I promise you that I will go to homecoming with you this year." He kissed Hayley on the forehead.

"Okay, good," she smiled.

For the next couple of hours, the seven of them sat around and hung out. Finally, when Aiden knew that it was a half hour before his parents were typically home, he stood from the couch to leave.

"My mom and dad will be home soon," he said. "I want to make sure I'm at least in the house when they get there...since I'm grounded and all." Ethan chuckled at his friend's statement.

"Man, your parents are way too uptight about shit," Ethan said. "When the school called my dad, he talked to me about it, but I just told him I'd stop skipping or whatever he wanted to hear."

"Well Aiden's parents are _cops_," Kevin smirked. "They've gotta be uptight about everything."

"Ha, yeah," Aiden said. "I remember when I used to think it was the coolest thing ever that my parents were federal agents." He put emphasis on "federal agents" as if to mock it. "Now it's just annoying."

"All right, well I'll see ya tomorrow I guess," Ethan said. "Hey, wait a second."

"Yeah?" Aiden asked.

"Basketball conditioning starts next week," Ethan pointed out. "If you're grounded, are your parents still gonna let you be on the team?"

"I'd like to see them try to take that away from me," Aiden smirked.

"All right," Ethan smiled. Hayley stood from the couch to leave with her boyfriend. "See you guys later."

Aiden and Hayley left Ethan's house and began walking home. Hayley only lived a couple blocks away from Aiden, so he always walked her home on the way back to his house. On the way home, they discussed their plans for homecoming which was approaching. Hayley explained her blue dress so Aiden knew what color of tie to buy, and they talked about dinner plans that their group was planning for before the dance. Aiden still thought it was silly how seriously girls took these simple high school dances, but if it was important to Hayley, he was determined not to let her down. They reached Hayley's house and stopped on the front porch.

"How much trouble do you think you're really going to get in?" Hayley asked the question that had been on her mind for quite a while. She knew how hard her boyfriend's parents could be on him, especially due to his grades. Aiden sighed and looked at the ground.

"I don't know," he replied. He looked up to face Hayley. "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"You know, I'll bet your parents wouldn't yell at you as much if you applied yourself," Hayley said as Aiden rolled his eyes. He heard numerous people try to give him this speech, and he didn't want to hear it right now. "I know you can do better in school, and you wouldn't have to worry so much about being grounded all the time."

"Hayley, I don't like school," Aiden said. "I don't care about the shit they teach us. I care about things that matter to me. I care about my friends, my sister, basketball. I care about you."

"I know you do," Hayley smiled. "Look, all I'm saying is it would be nice to be able to hang out with my boyfriend without having to sneak around to make sure your parents don't find out."

"But if I were allowed to be hanging out with you, wouldn't that take the excitement out of it?" Aiden joked.

"Think about it, okay?" Hayley asked. Aiden looked into her eyes for a few moments. She really was such a good girl. How exactly she managed to fit in with their group of friends was beyond Aiden. He was certainly with one complex girl.

"I'll think about it," he relented with a smile.

"Okay. Well you'd better get home if you want to beat your parents," Hayley said. Aiden nodded. He leaned in to kiss his girlfriend goodbye.

"Bye, babe," he said. "Love you."

"I love you, too," Hayley replied. She opened her front door and went inside while Aiden turned and left her front porch to head back to his own house, prepared to withstand the imminent scolding from his parents.

"Lee! Where you at?" Aiden called into the house as he entered, closing the front door behind him.

"In the family room!" his sister called back. Aiden walked past the living room, past the staircase, and through the opening to the family room to see his sister reclined on the couch, her feet resting on the coffee table, with an open textbook in her hands.

"Typical," he scoffed and sat next to her.

"Where have you been?" Aaliyah asked, closing her book and facing her brother. "I've been home from practice for over twenty minutes, and I was half expecting Mom and Dad to beat you home."

"I was just over at Ethan's," Aiden replied. Aaliyah nodded once, her lips pierced into a thin line, showing her disapproval.

"Gotcha," she said.

"We got any chips here? I'd rather not be thinking about food when Dad's laying into me about this school shit," Aiden said. Aaliyah looked at her brother's eyes for a moment, realizing they were red and glazed.

"Really, Aiden?" she said. "Do you want to give Mom and Dad even more reason to be pissed at you?"

"How noticeable is it?" Aiden asked. He knew how to behave around his parents to conceal when he was high, but he didn't want them to be able to see it on his face.

"They'll definitely notice," Aaliyah replied.

"Shit," Aiden whispered. "Gimme a second; I'll be right back." He jumped up from the couch and ran out of the family room. A couple minutes later, Aiden returned, his eyes looking considerably less bloodshot.

"What did you do?" Aaliyah asked.

"Visine," Aiden replied, plopping back down next to his sister. "Eye drops work wonders." Just then, Aiden and Aaliyah heard the front door open and Tony and Ziva walked into the house. They were speaking to each other about their case, but Aiden and Aaliyah couldn't make out the words. The footsteps were getting closer until Tony and Ziva finally entered the family room to see their kids on the couch.

"How was school?" Ziva greeted with a smile.

"It went well," Aaliyah replied. "I just got home from practice a little bit ago."

"How about you, Aiden?" Tony asked.

"Fine," Aiden replied, leaning back against the couch cushion. Tony nodded and raised the stack of mail in his hand up to eye level. He flipped through a few envelopes before finding something that caught his interest.

"Midterms are here," he said. "Let's start with Aaliyah's." He opens the envelope and he and Ziva read silently down the paper. Pleased with their daughter's marks of four A's and three B's, they hand the document over to Aaliyah.

"Good job, sweetie," Ziva smiled.

"Thanks," Aaliyah replied. "I'm going to go upstairs and study for a little bit." She grabbed her textbook from the coffee table and left the room, leaving Aiden alone with their parents.

"Okay," Tony sighed. "Is there anything you want to tell us before we open this up?"

"There's no point," Aiden replied, shrugging his shoulders. Tony opened the envelope, Ziva watching next to him. Aiden sees the disappointment in his mother's face and the anger in his father's when they read the marks of one C, four D's, and two F's.

"How do you explain this?" Ziva asked, remaining calm but stern. Aiden shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Answer your mother," Tony demanded.

"I don't know," Aiden replied, infuriating his dad even more.

"Damn it, Aiden," Tony started. "How many times are we going to have to have this same talk? I am sick of paying to send you to school when you don't even put forth the effort to do well."

"What can I say?" Aiden shrugged.

"You can start with an explanation," Ziva replied. "Why are you failing two classes?"

"I don't care," Aiden said bluntly.

"You don't care?" Tony repeated, the anger rising inside him. He crumbled up the midterm in his hand and slammed in onto the coffee table, causing his son to jump, startled. "What's it going to take to make you care? Failing your classes? Failing your sophomore year? Not graduating with your sister and friends because you decided you _didn't care_? You're going to start caring and you don't have a choice in the matter."

"How?" Aiden asked boldly. "I'm already grounded." The silence that filled the room was met with the thickest tension that had ever been between Aiden and his parents. Tony and Ziva could not believe the nerve their son was having.

"You're not going to homecoming," Tony said. Aiden's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me," Tony said. "If you don't care about doing well in school, I don't care about you having a fun social life. Maybe if you're forced to miss homecoming because we're making you stay home to do schoolwork, you'll realize that you need to start doing it on your own."

"That's bullshit," Aiden spat.

"What did you say?" Tony demanded.

"You heard me," Aiden said, his voice full of spite. Tony's nerves in his right arm tensed, nearly raising his hand to backhand his son's mouth, but he stopped himself.

"Go to your room," he yelled. Aiden stood from the couch and left the room, walking upstairs to his bedroom. After a moment, Tony took a seat on the couch and rested his elbows on his knees, closing his eyes and putting his face in his hands.

"Calm down," Ziva said gently, sitting next to him and laying a hand on his shoulder.

"What are we going to do with this boy?" Tony asked.

"I do not know what his problem is," Ziva replied. "But this disrespect and rebellious behavior needs to stop."

"I don't know what to do with him," Tony said. "Punishment just doesn't seem to do anything anymore."

"He is a teenager," Ziva said, rubbing her hand up and down her husband's back. "I am angry with him too, but just remember that there are a lot worse things he could be doing. We should be thankful he is not doing anything worse than misbehaving in school."

"You're right," Tony sighed. Just then, Aaliyah appeared in the doorway of the family room.

"Hey, could I talk to you guys about homecoming real quick?" she asked. She hadn't told her parents anything about her own plans yet.

"Yeah, sure. Come on in," Tony replied. Aaliyah entered the room, happy to finally have time to talk to her parents.

"Okay, so this guy named Ma-" she stopped when her dad's phone started ringing.

"Sorry, I have to take this," Tony said, looking at the screen. "Hold on just a second." He stood from the couch and stepped into the hall to answer his phone. After a couple of minutes, Tony reentered, looking rather displeased.

"What is it?" Ziva asked.

"Zi, we've gotta go," Tony replied. He looked at his daughter and saw the disappointment in her eyes. "I'm sorry, honey. We'll talk tomorrow."

"It's okay," Aaliyah said. "I understand."

"I don't know what time we'll be back, so you know the rules," Tony said as Ziva stood to join him. "Don't stay up too late, and if we're not back by morning, make sure you guys get to school all right."

"I will," Aaliyah nodded.

"Bye, sweetie," Ziva smiled as she and Tony left the family room. They walked quickly to the front door, and once they were on the front porch, Ziva turned to face her husband, very concerened.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We've got another crime scene to get to," Tony replied. "Belle Rogers is dead."

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**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed chapter 3! Please remember to review and tell me what you're thinking so far!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** After a year's stretch of writer's block and poor time management, I am back and dedicated to this story/series. I have completely redrafted this particular story and am confident it is now ready for you all to read. Thanks for your patience. Here is (finally) chapter 4!

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"Special Agent DiNozzo," Captain Beck greeted Tony as he and Ziva arrived on the base. "I trust you have made some progress?"

"We're doing all we can," Tony replied. He, his wife, and the captain were standing several yards away from the crime scene as the other agents were processing it. Ziva looked onward, seeing Belle Rogers' body lying in a pool of blood from what appeared to be a fatal head wound.

"This makes no sense to me," Beck said, shaking his head. "An officer is killed right after a bomb goes off, killing sixteen? It has to be the same killer."

"There is no proof yet that there is a connection," Tony said, although he knew no one would buy that.

"Please just solve this," Beck requested. "This can't keep happening. I need my men and women to feel safe on their own base."

"I understand, Captain, and I can assure you were are doing everything we can to figure out who is behind this," Tony replied reassuringly. He then excused himself and Ziva, and the two of them went to join their teams near Belle's body.

"Okay, what so we have so far?" Tony asked.

"I estimate she's been dead for about two hours," Palmer answered from next to the body.

"It's 8:30 now," Tony said, looking at his watch. "So she'd have been killed right as it was starting to get dark out."

"Cause of death?" Ziva asked. Palmer sighed and turned the deceased's head slightly to the right to indicate a large gash.

"Blunt force trauma to the head," he replied. "It looks like one single, fatal blow."

"Any signs of a struggle?" Tony inquired to which Palmer sighed and shook his head.

"Right now, I see no signs of defensive wounds, indicating she didn't put up a fight," he answered. "She was probably taken off-guard from behind."

"Never saw it coming," Tony muttered.

"I'm finished here," Palmer said, standing up. "Hopefully the autopsy can be more helpful than I've been."

"One can hope," Tony sighed. He stepped past Palmer and stood next to his senior field agent, Victor Larson.

"We've searched nearly every inch of this base," Larson offered, noting Tony's curiosity. "Steph's on photograph duty, and Ziva's team has been questioning everyone."

"And you've been…?" Tony wondered. Larson cracked half of a smile, and Tony recognized a familiar cockiness in this agent's expression.

"Supervising," Larson replied. "Until you got here, of course." Tony chuckled slightly.

"I think everything's about wrapped up," Steph said, approaching her boss that had recently arrived. She maintained eye contact with Tony, ignoring Larson's eyes that quickly glanced her up and down. Tony, however, did not miss his senior field agent's gaze and shot him a stern warning look. Over the years that Larson had worked for Tony, Tony had developed a strong sense of connection with the younger man. With Larson's self-absorbed cocky attitude mixed with his undeniable skill in the field, he reminded Tony a lot of himself, and Tony hadn't decided yet if that was a good or bad thing.

"Whatcha got for me?" Tony asked.

"We were able to find a wooden crate with a decent chunk of wood missing," Steph replied.

"Possible murder weapon," Tony stated.

"White and Buchanan are getting the evidence back to the lab, including video surveillance," she continued. "Daniels and Tuttle are finishing up with interviewing."

"Good work," Tony said, nodding. "Let's head on back and see what we can come up with." The two teams began the drive back to headquarters, and Tony and Ziva followed in their own vehicle.

"What are you thinking?" Ziva asked as her husband drove. Tony took a deep breath, sighed, and rubbed his temples.

"Rogers was the only person who told us anything productive," he said. "She gave us the lead on Wycuff and his dispute with Laurie McDonnell."

"Right, so it can hardly be a coincidence that Rogers is the one who turns up murdered," Ziva concluded.

"I wouldn't think so," Tony agreed.

"And we are still holding Wycuff, which means he could not have killed her," Ziva added. Tony nodded.

"Which means someone didn't like Rogers giving Wycuff up to us," he said. "Someone knows Rogers turned him in, and they decided she had to pay."

"Maybe whoever it is was worried that Rogers might help us even more," Ziva suggested.

"Maybe," Tony agreed. "If Wycuff really even has anything to do with it."

"It is all right there. Laurie McDonnell was killed in the explosion after rejecting Wycuff. It is all so convenient," Ziva pointed out.

"That part could have been coincidental," Tony countered.

"You do not believe in coincidences," Ziva said sharply. Tony was silent for a moment, thinking over everything they had learned.

"Look, I'm just playing devil's advocate here," he said. "It's very possible that Wycuff was involved, but it's also possible that he wasn't. The truth of the matter is, though, that he couldn't have killed Belle Rogers tonight."

"So," Ziva began, "either Wycuff has an accomplice…" She trailed off the let her husband complete the thought.

"Or we have the wrong guy."

Back at the DiNozzo house, Aaliyah was walking down the hallway toward her room to start getting ready for bed. It was nearing 10:30pm, and her parents were not home, which was something that she and Aiden had grown accustomed to. She was about to open her bedroom door when she heard a female voice coming from Aiden's room. She stopped for a moment, but then assumed it was his television.

"Well what do you want me to do?" came Aiden's voice.

"I don't know, Aiden, but we have to figure something out," said the girl. Aaliyah, confused, leaned against the hallway wall and rested her ear against her brother's bedroom door.

"Look, I love my girlfriend," Aiden insisted. Aaliyah noticed the stress in her brother's voice and wondered who this girl in his room was.

"Who are you trying to convince, Aiden?" the girl asked.

"This was just supposed to be for fun, Whitney. That's all," Aiden said. Aaliyah couldn't see inside, but she could hear how desperate her brother was. She kept listening, determined to find out what was going on with her brother.

"That's all?" the girl, Whitney, repeated.

"Yeah," Aiden replied. "It was never supposed to blow up like this or turn out this way."

"Well, it did," Whitney said. Aaliyah could hear the girl's voice shaking as if she were crying, or at least about to.

"Listen, nothing like this was ever supposed to happen," Aiden said softly. "I'm sorry, but I love my girlfriend. I don't want to hurt her."

"You wait until now to say you don't want to hurt her?" Whitney exclaimed. If she hadn't been crying before, there was no doubt in Aaliyah's mind that this girl was crying now.

"What do you mean?" Aiden asked. "I never wanted to hurt her."

"You mean to tell me that for the past month, you've been texting me non-stop. You've been making out with me in the locker room at school. You've been stopping by to see me on your way to or from Hayley's house. You've even snuck out to spend a couple nights with me. But _now_ you're saying you don't want to hurt your girlfriend?" Whitney all but screamed. "Now you want to say you care about her?" There was a long, tense silence, and Aaliyah longed to know what was going on inside that room. She remained as quiet as she could outside her brother's room, her ear pressed against his door. Her body was frozen still, and she noticed she was even holding her breath, waiting for Aiden's reply. Finally, the silence was broken by her brother's voice.

"I know I've lied to both of you," he said quietly. Aaliyah could hear the pain in his voice. "Yes, I did all of that behind Hayley's back. I never wanted her to find out. This was supposed to be for fun. Just a fling. It wasn't supposed to go as far as it did."

"Well it did," Whitney said firmly.

"I know," Aiden relented.

"And now I need you to make a choice," Whitney demanded, her voice growing louder.

"I don't know, Whitney, okay? I don't know," Aiden exclaimed back at her. "Oh my God, I can't do this right now."

"_You_ can't do this right now?" Whitney repeated.

"No, I can't," Aiden said. "I'm already in enough shit with my parents. My dad is always on my back about something. I already have to tell my girlfriend I can't take her to homecoming, and now you're dumping all of this on me. Shit, Whitney, we're only fifteen years old!"

"So that's it?" Whitney asked quietly.

"What?" Aiden asked.

"You're not gonna talk to me about this because you're already stressed out?" she asked. Aiden sighed so loudly that Aaliyah heard it in the hall.

"I can't talk to you about this right now because I need some time to think," he said definitively. "I need to figure out how I'm ever going to be able to fix things with my girlfriend."

"So that's what's important to you in all of this?" Whitney demanded. "Your girlfriend?"

"Hayley is the most important thing in my life," Aiden replied.

"Well you sure as hell don't act like it," Whitney spat.

"Enough!" Aiden yelled. "Whitney, I just need time."

"Time for what?" Whitney asked. "Time to run off, get high, pretend the problems in your life don't exist? Damn it, Aiden, you can't run away from this!" Aaliyah held her breath again as the room went silent.

"I need you to leave," Aiden said just above a whisper.

"What?" Whitney asked.

"I said I need you to leave," Aiden repeated quietly. Aaliyah heard Whitney cross the room and open the window.

"Go roll a blunt. Apparently that's all you care about," Whitney said, venom obvious in her words. Aaliyah heard the window close, and she knew Whitney was gone. She quietly walked into her own room and laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about everything she had just heard.

What was going on with her brother? Aaliyah thought about everything that had happened. Aiden was skipping school, failing classes, smoking weed, being completely disrespectful to their parents, and now apparently cheating on his girlfriend. This couldn't be the same boy that she grew up with, spent every day of their childhood playing with, and loved more than anyone in the world. Her brother wouldn't act like this. This had to be some sort of cry for help.

'I don't know what to do,' Aaliyah thought. Her brother's life was spiraling out of control, and their parents weren't around to even notice. Aaliyah was the only person who saw anything. She knew she had to do something. 'But what?'

The next morning, Aaliyah was surprised when she walked downstairs to see Aiden sitting in the breakfast nook, already eating breakfast. He was dressed for school, but when Aaliyah looked at him, she could see how exhausted he was, and not just from lack of sleep the night before. Aiden had bags under his eyes and a look on his faced that resembled a zombie. Aaliyah was concerned, but decided to put on her biggest smile and act as if she had no idea that he was in trouble.

"Good morning," she smiled, walking into the kitchen. Aiden didn't look up, but raised his eyebrows as acknowledgment. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Aiden grunted, stirring his spoon aimlessly in his cereal bowl. Aaliyah studied her brother. He was not fine. He was not anything. He just seemed empty. He seemed as though all the life had been drained from him, and that scared Aaliyah.

"Are you sure?" Aaliyah pressed. "You know you can talk to me about anything." Aiden shook his head.

"Not about this," he whispered. He dropped the spoon in his bowl, stood up, and walked past his sister and out of the kitchen.

"Not about what, Aiden?" Aaliyah asked.

"Just drop it," Aiden muttered. Aaliyah took a deep breath and decided to get her brother to talk.

"About Whitney?" she called after him. Aiden, who had made his way to the foot of the stairs, stopped cold and turned to face his sister.

"Wha-…How did you…?" he asked distantly.

"I…I, uh," she swallowed hard. "I heard you two fighting last night." Aaliyah watched her brother's face as fear flashed in his eyes that slowly turned to pure anger.

"What did you hear?" he demanded. His eyes were dark with anger, his nostrils flared, and his cheeks starting to turn red. The zombie-like expression was gone from his face, and Aaliyah knew that she would have to stand her ground.

"I just heard you fighting," she replied. "I know you've been cheating on Hayley with her. And I know that you're stressed out. But if you would just let me-"

"No, Aaliyah," Aiden said firmly.

"No, what?" Aaliyah asked.

"You can't help me with this," he yelled.

"I bet I could if you let me," Aaliyah offered. She looked her brother deep in the eyes and saw nothing. On the outside, he was angry, but on the inside, he was just as empty and drained as he had been at breakfast. It worried her, and Aaliyah felt the twinge in her chest as she wanted so badly to reach out to her brother, for him to just trust her with whatever was going on.

"You wouldn't understand," Aiden argued.

"You don't know that," Aaliyah countered. "Just give me a chance. I want to help you. You're scaring me."

"I'm scaring you?" Aiden repeated.

"Yeah," Aaliyah replied. She thought back to her phone call with Abby and remembered how she had promised Abby that she would talk to Aiden about her concerns. She never imagined the time for that talk would come so soon. Aiden was silent. He was breathing heavily and rapidly, his heart was pounding, adrenaline racing, and the fury was still flaming in his eyes. He took a deep breath and ran his right hand through his hair.

"Don't worry about me, Aaliyah, I'll be fine," he said shortly.

"No, Aiden, that's not good enough," Aaliyah stated. Aiden looked taken aback by his sister's comeback, and Aaliyah herself was a bit surprised by her insistence. She took a deep breath and continued. "You're skipping so much school, and it's to go and get high. You're throwing away your education, you have no freedoms because you're always grounded, and I'm worried that sooner or later you'll lose basketball, which seems to be your only passion in life. I just don't want you to keep making this type of decision that could harm you later in life. I want you to graduate and get into college and have a job and a family. I care about you, and it scares me that the road you're going down might land you in jail rather than college."

Aaliyah finished and waited for her brother to speak. She was so surprised that she had said all of that. She meant every word of it, but it was never anything she thought she would say to her brother. Aiden sighed, and Aaliyah saw his shoulders relax as he let a lot of tension out of his body. She looked in his eyes and saw the anger subsiding and being replaced by fear and pure sadness. Aiden looked down at the ground, almost shamefully.

"It's okay," Aaliyah said softly. "It's just me."

"Can we sit down?" Aiden finally spoke. They moved into the living room and sat on the couch.

"I can listen whenever you're ready to talk," Aaliyah said. Aiden nodded.

"Have you ever felt invisible?" he began. "I don't mean, like, people interrupt you mid-sentence and overlook you once in a while. I mean, have you ever felt one hundred percent that you are just so insignificant and unimportant, that no one cares about your thoughts or your feelings or even you at all? That you're just such a waste of space that not even your own parents care about what's going on with you?" Aiden's voice caught in his throat, and Aaliyah's eyes began to well up with tears.

"Aiden, I-"

"I don't expect you to know what it's like," Aiden said. "You're the good kid. Good grades, extracurriculars, the whole nine yards. You've always been Dad's princess."

"Aiden, I'm so sorry," Aaliyah said. "I had no idea…"

"It's not your fault," Aiden said. "You shouldn't feel bad for being a great person."

"You know Mom and Dad love you-"

"Aaliyah, Mom and Dad are never home," Aiden said. "The only time Dad ever speaks to me is when he's yelling at me. How shitty is it that I have to be a screw-up to get a little bit of attention from my own father? I'm not his prized, golden child. I'm an inconvenience. I'm always messing things up and stressing them out. Sometimes I really feel like Mom and Dad would be happier if they only had you as a daughter. That's what I mean by invisible."

"Oh, Aiden, I can't believe I never noticed you felt like this," Aaliyah said. She rested a comforting hand on her brother's shoulder and wiped the tears that had finally fallen on her cheek.

"Yeah, well, it sucks when you feel like such a burden to your own parents that you have to get high every day to feel good about yourself," Aiden continued. "I'm just so stressed out. I have so much shit going on, and…I don't even know who I am anymore."

"What do you mean?" Aaliyah asked.

"I mean, I act out, and I know it's wrong, but I don't care. It's like, I do this shit and find entertainment in pissing Dad off, but then I turn around and feel miserable and want him to pay attention to me and love me," Aiden explained. "I just don't know what I'm doing."

"Why don't you tell Mom and Dad how you feel?" Aaliyah suggested.

"Because I'm not a thirteen year old girl," Aiden replied quickly. "You really think I want them to see me as a boy who acted out because he felt like it was the only way he could get his parents to acknowledge him?"

"That's not who you are at all," Aaliyah said. "But Mom and Dad think you do all this stuff just because you don't care. But I know that you do care. You just have to show them that you do."

"Yeah, well, it's too late for that," Aiden said. "I could waste my time trying to build a relationship with them, but I'd just lose it again anyway."

"Why do you say that?" Aaliyah asked, her concern growing.

"Because," Aiden sighed. "I did something pretty unforgivable."

"What do you mean?" Aaliyah asked.

"I mean, I cheated on Hayley," Aiden replied. "When I started hanging with Whitney, it was just supposed to be for fun on the side. He'd hang out, hook up or whatever, no strings attached. Hayley respects herself, and Whitney put out, and I know, I know that sounds absolutely horrible…"

"Yeah, you're right, it does," Aaliyah agreed. "But everyone makes mistakes."

"Yeah, well, I started to feel like I was really falling in love with Hayley," Aiden continued. "So, I went to end things with Whitney, and she didn't take it well. Thus, the fight last night."

"Did she think you were gonna leave Hayley for her?" Aaliyah asked. Aiden shrugged.

"I told her I never meant for it to get this far," he said.

"Well, honestly, yeah you cheated on your girlfriend, and that's a horrible situation. But, you can get through this. Why do you think this would ruin your relationship with Mom and Dad?" Aaliyah asked. Aiden sighed and ran his hand through his hair again.

"Because I didn't just cheat on my girlfriend," Aiden replied. "Whitney thinks she might be pregnant."

"What?" Aaliyah exclaimed.

"See, I knew telling you was a mistake," Aiden said and started to get up. Aaliyah grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the couch.

"Okay, I'm sorry," she said. "Aiden, you're only fifteen years old."

"You think I don't know that?" Aiden replied. "I didn't want any of this to happen."

"Well, she doesn't know yet?" Aaliyah asked, to which Aiden shook his head.

"She's going to the doctor to find out for sure tomorrow," he replied. "But now I have to tell my girlfriend what I did. Right when I have something really good in my life, I screw it up. I don't know how I'm going to do it."

"I really think you should talk to Mom and Dad," Aaliyah said.

"No, Aaliyah," Aiden said firmly. "They can't know anything that I told you."

"But what if she is? They'll find out," Aaliyah said.

"If she is, that's something I'll deal with later," Aiden replied. "But you have to promise me that you won't say anything to them about anything I told you." Aaliyah narrowed her lips disapprovingly.

"So you just want to go on acting like an ungrateful, spoiled rebel who doesn't care about school or anything in life other than basketball and weed?" she asked, disgusted. Aiden looked hurt for about a millisecond before replacing it with his tough-boy front.

"It's been working for this long," he replied. "As far as Mom and Dad are concerned, nothing has changed."

"I don't like this," Aaliyah said, shaking her head.

"Oh well," Aiden said. "You have to act like nothing has changed until I figure all this out. Promise me." Aaliyah stared at her brother for a long time. She knew it would just be easier to give in.

"Fine," she said. "I promise I won't say anything to Mom and Dad."

"Thank you," Aiden said. He stood and left the room. Aaliyah sighed, leaned against the back of the couch, and buried her face in her hands. Now she knew what was wrong with her brother, but she was obligated to do absolutely nothing about it. She felt even more lost than before.

That same morning, Tony and Ziva were hard at work going over the case evidence from the night before. Palmer had been at work down in autopsy, and Abby was working her magic in her lab. Both teams were assisting in the case as much as possible, but it was nearing 8:00am by this point, and everyone was tired. Tony looked up from his desk to see Larson nodding off across from him. Tony frowned, crumpled up a piece of paper, and threw it at his senior field agent. Larson jolted awake.

"Take a coffee break if you need one," Tony instructed. Larson nodded and left to go do just that.

"Tony," Ziva's tired voice rang as she appeared next to her husband.

"What's up," he replied, leaning back in his chair and looking up at his wife. Ziva was holding her own cup of coffee, looking extremely tired.

"Abby wants to see us," she replied. Tony nodded and walked with Ziva to the elevator. Once inside the elevator, Tony stopped it, to Ziva's surprise.

"Tony, what are you-" Tony interrupted her by grabbing the back of her head and pressing his lips firmly against hers. Ziva was surprised at first, but she placed her hand on the back of his neck and kissed him passionately in return. After a long moment, Tony pulled back and stared deeply into his wife's dark eyes.

"I don't know how long I've been waiting to do that," he said.

"What was that for?" Ziva asked, not that she objected. Tony shrugged.

"We've been working a lot lately. I know how tired you are, and I know we don't get a lot of alone time anymore. Kinda makes me appreciate every minute I do get to spend alone with you," he replied. Ziva smiled and shook her head. She should not be surprised of this coming from her husband, as he always was spontaneous.

"Well thank you," she smiled. "Now let's get down to Abby's lab." They rode the elevator the rest of the way down and arrived to greet their beloved forensic scientist.

"Find anything for us?" Tony asked upon entering the lab.

"You bet!" Abby replied happily. She led Tony and Ziva over to a table and picked up a vile. "Palmer found this little fella in Rogers' head wound."

"It looks like a small, chipped-off piece of wood," Ziva observed.

"That's because it is," Abby replied. "That led me to believe our victim was struck with a larger sample of wood, for example, a board from the crate that was found at the crime scene to not be intact. I tested this smaller sample against the portion of the crate that was broken, and I'm positive that it is one in the same."

"So we have our murder weapon," Ziva said.

"But that's not all," Aby continued. She signaled for the two agents to follow her as she led them across the lab, her pigtails bouncing happily. "I was studying the surveillance tapes from last night."

"Tell me you caught the killer on tape," Tony sighed. "That would be all too perfect."

"I don't have the murder on tape," Abby began. "Whoever did this knows the base pretty well and knows which locations are and aren't seen by camera. But, I have footage of a man walking with Rogers right before she was killed."

"Show us," Tony said. Abby started the tape.

"And right here," she paused it and pointed at the screen. For a brief moment, the man had looked up and the camera was able to capture his face.

"Can you enhance that for us?" Tony asked.

"Way ahead of you," Abby smiled. She handed each Tony and Ziva a copy of the suspect's picture. "It's not the greatest quality, but I think it'll get the job done."

"Thanks, Abbs," Tony said. He and Ziva quickly headed back to the elevator.

"So now we have the face of the man who possibly killed Belle Rogers," Ziva said.

"We take this down there, show it around, someone will I.D. him," Tony continued. They reached the squadroom and directed their teams to gear up. They had a lead and were possibly another step closer to solving their mystery.

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**A/N:** There's chapter 4. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll post chapter 5 tomorrow so you can all see more of what is going on with the case, and in Aiden and Aaliyah's lives!


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